


You and I In Unison

by Bematt



Category: Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai | The World God Only Knows
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-27 01:49:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20037922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bematt/pseuds/Bematt
Summary: An alternate turn of events after the conclusion of the Goddesses arc, which reworks some of the existing plot threads into a different story.The God of Conquest has conquered all sorts of girls, and he's even conquered goddesses, but now he faces the biggest challenge of his conquering career: his own feelings. It's been five days since the Mai-High Festival concluded and Keima finds himself in the middle of an internal struggle that pits him against his greatest enemy: reality. With the end of the runaway spirit hunt in sight, Keima seeks to finally take his old life back, but painful memories and the longing for a certain average girl have him questioning the methods he believed in all along. With the Goddesses fighting for him and a devilish conspiracy brewing, will Keima accept reality or reject it for good?





	1. In Unison

**Author's Note:**

> A.N. - To elaborate a bit, this is a diverging path that replaces the "Heart of Jupiter" arc that ended the manga. I hesitate to call it a "rewrite" because it really isn't, but I am incorporating some of the plot elements from that arc into this story because it's hard not to without completely disregarding certain things that the mangaka addressed in the Goddesses arc. That being said, I'm going to be taking some creative liberties that might not make sense 100%, but I'll do my best to make them work for this story.
> 
> This is more about Keima's relationships with the girls than anything else. Keima had to face some of the consequences for his approach to capturing runaway spirits while awakening the Goddesses. A lot of this story will capitalize off of those themes. While this is very obviously a story that favors Keima and Chihiro, I wanted to give each of the other girls who are in love with Keima a proper resolution with him. While it will be at times fairly serious, I'm working to try to balance that with fluff and humor in the same kind of way that made this series so good. I'm not trying to emulate the mangaka, but I am trying to channel the positive qualities about this series that I love so much.
> 
> This prologue chapter serves to set the scene which you are more than likely already familiar with. I implore you to read this and the proper first chapter (which should hopefully be posted already) to get a good idea of the direction I want to take this fic. I'm excited and constantly writing more each day, and I hope to see this through until the end.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

#  **RESET FLAG. 0 [In Unison]**

_ ~ she’s been singing out of tune, just then i’m “flying to the moon” ~ _

* * *

On the final night of the Mai-High Festival, spirits were high for the students of Maijima Private High School. In typical school festival fashion, the excitement was so contagious it spread fast and wide like a plague. Students gathered together in uniform, hands clasped around party favors and food from the large variety of stands that lined the school grounds. Dusk had set in, the sun having descended in the horizon as time casually wasted away with the follies of youth. For most, this was another cherished school memory filled with the excitement of celebration, and for some, a touch of romance. It was the kind of adolescent force that swept those in its path in the same direction; to be recalled later from blurry flash photography and poorly framed shots of a happier time that was marked by smiles. There were few who stood together on this night in Mai-High history who could say that they were not enjoying themselves. Some stood in the crowds awaiting the main events, some walked around the stands gorging themselves and laughing with their friends, and some went off the beaten path with their fingers woven together to turn the night into magic. There was no presence of danger or oppressive force souring the mood. It was a sailing euphoria that permeated every soul it contacted without reservation.

And yet, beneath it all, there was a sorrow that nobody else could’ve possibly felt or acknowledged. A heartbreak that served as the loudest whimper in the world, snuffed out before it could reach the ears of anybody who would be there to hear it. Only two people who stood in the face of the festival’s high could recognize such a tainting feeling. Their vantage points were different, yet they were looking at the same agonizing reality.

The crowd in front of the Maijima Rock Stage basked in the residual glow of the bright spotlights that washed the main stage. The late night festivities gave way to the main event, the Battle of the Bands. As each band went on stage to play their set, the audience seemed to move at their own tempo. Some people cheered with their fists pumping in the air, and others simply watched the performances with awe, their attention locked onto every strum of the guitar and snare hit on the drums. There were groups congregating together just to have a good time as the performances went on, waiting to see who would come out on top. Despite all this, there was a sense of uniformity. The heart of the festival always seemed to beat to the same drum as those celebrating at the center of it all.

A group color coordinated with purple shirts strummed their last note as they waved to spotted cheers and howls from the crowd. Making their exit to stage right, it quickly became time for the next group to come on stage. The students waited in anticipation for the next set to begin, their constant noise keeping the momentum like a wave waiting to crash spectacularly once the music started again. No average person could’ve guessed what was holding up the most anticipated group of the night, nor would they have given a second thought to it. Behind the curtains of the side stage, two girls were coming to realize that they might not be able to perform the way everyone was expecting from them. Despite this, one of them had a stubborn desire to give their all, even if they had to do it all by themselves. This one girl, average in almost every way, felt the weight of reality crashing down on her shoulders, yet she hoisted her guitar strap with the endurance of Atlas and took one step forward into the blinding lights of the stage.

Meanwhile, in the crowd, a single boy with slightly messy chestnut brown hair and thin-framed glasses stood close to the front of the stage. His wavelength was completely different than everyone else’s, always back and forth out of sync. He cared not to match the tempo of the festival’s beck and call. The last thing he could possibly pay any mind to was the significance of the festival or to get caught in the temptation of sweet school memories. To him, only the next performance existed. Everyone else was just background noise and the stage was simply a CG backdrop. The entirety of the rest of the country, let alone the planet, could not have shifted his vision even a single inch. His brain was so wired with determination that he had not even begun to understand. Out of everyone who stood surrounding him like a crop circle, he understood his own feelings the least. It was equally irritating and terrifying for him. Where most people were coming to terms with the more complicated emotions that come with growing up, this one boy was experiencing them for the very first time.

It was ugly to him, yet he could not pull away from his own heart.

The perfectly average girl stode out to center stage, her guitar dangling at her waist as she approached the microphone stand. The guitar was a Fender Mustang with a pink body and headstock that shone with a glossy finish. The slight boom of the microphone called out as she adjusted it. Her wide brown eyes slowly scanned the crowd’s reactions, her short bangs that matched her eyes in color shifting a little with a small flower hair clip accenting the side of her face. Behind her, a girl with long black hair stood behind the keyboard, the irritation flowing on the surface of her skin as she clenched her fists. She cursed under her breath. It was a five piece band and only two people were present.

It was the last band of the night, and it was their first performance. The crowd’s ceaseless energy had everyone chattering among themselves.

“Do they know what they’re doing?”

“What, are they running late?”

“Good luck…”

“You can do it!”

“When is Kanon going to show up?”

The girl stood at the microphone unwavering against the reactions. She simply smiled and stalled them with enthusiasm, a spark in her eyes. She wasn’t going to leave the stage without a performance, even if it was the worst performance of her entire life. Reaching into the pocket of her blazer, she pulled out a faded guitar pick. The logo and text on it was so worn down that it could barely be made out anymore. It was a sign that it was well used, practically broken down from the sheer amount of effort that had been applied to it. To her, this pick represented everything she was striving to accomplish.

The boy in the crowd gasped. He reached into his own jacket, but there was nothing there. A ghost of an object remained like air about to escape. There was nothing he could do to stop it from leaving him. 

Suddenly, the girl gazed offstage, her words trailing off as she recognized something that finally brought her relief. She paused to ask the crowd to wait as she bounced back behind the side stage curtains. When she returned, two had turned to five, and an impromptu soundcheck began. The crowd relaxed themselves for the moment, waiting for the show to start.

After some time, the girl and her band were ready to start. She reannounced their existence to the audience as if to cue them in to bring back their youthful energy. The audience moved back into the flow. She extended a peace sign with her right hand and smiled like there was happiness in the bottom of her heart, yet her words echoed a pain she was all too ready to forget.

“If you have someone you like, go ahead and confess!”

It was then that the song began. Just as the first notes were being played, a shining idol appeared on stage. She walked out with the presence of a saint, practically glowing. She outshined the spotlights that were cast upon the stage, her pink hair and signature yellow ribbon making it impossible to miss her. She had arrived to put the final pieces of the performance together. The crowd roared with enthusiasm, the heartbeat of the festival moving faster and faster.

There wasn’t a single person present who didn’t hear this performance to its fullest. All eyes were on the main stage that night to witness the grand climax of the festival. It was a bombastic moment at the peak of youthful exuberance. It was an emotionally charged moment that sent shockwaves up to the tips of their fingers, goosebumps on their skin. A girl, her band, and a national sensation combining to create an unforgettable moment. It was the first concert to end all first concerts. The crowd engaged at full capacity, and nobody dared to take their eyes off of this set. This was the memory they were so desperately waiting for.

By then, the boy had already left.

He trudged away from the crowds. He dragged his feet past the stalls and stands, with couples holding hands and friends laughing wearing masks, eating takoyaki and sweets. He avoided the classes hosting cafés and haunted houses, their decorations lining the hallways as families went door to door to enjoy the festivities. The innocence of youth formed a bittersweet note that coasted past every student with a costume, a handout, or a sign. The fluorescent lights that gave the school life in the dark of night were a repellent. He moved in the shadows, climbing the stairs off to the side of the school building that went up the school park housed on the roof. Each step took an enormous amount of effort, his legs feeling so heavy like he was wearing cement shoes. By the time he had reached the door and mechanically punched in the combination to get to the rooftop proper, he felt like he could’ve given out at any second. He mustered up the last of his strength to pull himself to one of the benches in the area and sat down. For what seemed like an eternity, he did not move. His body hardly shifted its position and he kept the same stance. It was as if his body had become a shell and his soul had taken off, wishing to escape from the weight of his own ego.

As the girl strummed her guitar and let her voice ring with passion, it seemed like time slowed to a crawl. The audience’s movements looked so precise and steady, yet she kept playing to the same beat. Suddenly, it seemed like the crowd and the rest of the world had disappeared except for the stage. She looked to her bandmates as a wave of holy white feathers descended from the sky like an omen raining down. Wide and beautiful white wings sprouted up, six sets surrounding the stage like a divine assembly. The girl didn’t stop playing, but she felt a hollowness in the pit of her stomach. She was the only one who could see this unreal sight, but all it did was make her feel like she was missing something important. She was unique, and she was anything but.

The girl was as average as can be.

Her voice cried out.

_ The moment and feeling that will never come twice _

_ Even if they disappear in the heart _

_ They will still remain pure _

_ Along with the memories of my first love. _

On the rooftop, the boy could hear the girl’s voice clearer than he had heard anything in his life. Despite the distance from the rooftop to the stage, there was nothing else in the world that could catch his attention except for that performance. He said he would be there to listen, and he meant it with all his heart.

It was the first time he had stopped lying to her.

The girl couldn’t stop the tears that were streaming from her eyes. She strummed and sang like it was the last time she might ever be able to do so. She was calling out in the distance knowing she would not get an answer.

The boy let a single tear drop from his eyes with the weight of all of his regret. His head sunk down like the center of gravity was the guilt he felt in his chest. The tension he felt in his gut was so tight that it could’ve snapped at any moment. He felt like the lowest person on Earth, and he regretfully muttered under his breath the words he wished he could’ve said.

The crowd cheered. Everyone else smiled and laughed. They were operating at the same frequency. The heart of the festival was alive, and anyone who bore witness to it might’ve believed that there wasn’t a single soul there who felt any sadness or pain at that moment. 

The boy on the rooftop and the girl on the stage were out of time. They couldn’t possibly match the pace of everyone else, but they matched each other without knowing it. Neither of them was truly aware of what the other could’ve been thinking, so they continued to mourn the loss of something that never was. The last words escaped the girl’s throat as the noise of the crowd erupted, the song coming to a close as time returned to its normal pace. The girl clutched her guitar for dear life like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. The boy’s head listlessly nodded as he silently acknowledged that the performance was finally over, but he did not move from the bench. He remained still, letting the unknown sensations wash over him. He could not stop his body from reacting the way it was.

The boy closed his eyes.

The girl closed her eyes.

Together, they cried in unison.


	2. From Sleep Awake

#  **RESET FLAG. 1 [From Sleep Awake]**

_ ~ it stings me all over again, it’s the same dream in the back of my head ~_

* * *

“_Kami nii-sama! _ Are you alive in there? Open up the door! It’s been five days and Mother and I are worried about you! Have you been coming out to eat? Please tell me you’re not dead!”

On a morning as normal as any other, the second floor of the Katsuragi household was astir with the distressed shouts of a girl. She clutched a broom in her hands with several notches marked at the very end like a counter. Wearing a violet kimono and lavender thigh-high socks paired with a standard set of wooden sandals, she would’ve stood out in the average crowd. Her name was Elucia de Lute Ima, more commonly referred to as Elsie, and she was a demon. This demon, a resident from Hell, was spending a normal morning fretting about a certain human boy. It was a comical scene, but it was a common one in this household.

“Nii-sama!” Elsie called out again, pounding on the door desperately. “At least slip me notes under the door like you usually do! What am I supposed to tell Mother if you don’t come out? It’s my job as your little sister to drag you back into the outside world!”

An audible groan slipped out from the other side of the door, and Elsie’s ears perked up. For all the things she wasn’t good at, she had surprisingly decent hearing. Her spirits lifted a little bit now that she had confirmed signs of life.

Elsie was notoriously simple-minded, but that’s what made her who she was. Her chocolate brown hair tied back in a neat ponytail was accented with a large skull clip that could be mistaken for a quirky fashion accessory. In reality, it was a sign that she was a part of the elite Runaway Spirit Squad, a demon organization tasked with capturing runaway spirits that escape from Hell. She was clueless, but capable. Her trusty pink hagoromo floated like a cloud behind her back and wrapped around her arms as she kept her hands to the door, waiting to see if the boy would come out.

On the other side of the door that Elsie was pleading from was the room of one Keima Katsuragi; her buddy, brother, and partner in capturing runaway spirits. It had been five days since the Mai-High festival had concluded. In the time leading up to the festival, he had successfully awoken all of the Jupiter Sisters, the Goddesses who had sacrificed themselves centuries ago to seal the evil demonic spirits of Old Hell before they were released again ten years prior to the present day. With the help of the Goddesses, the demon association Vintage was thwarted from reviving Old Hell and a major crisis was successfully averted. When the Mai-High Festival had concluded and Keima’s job was complete, he came home and shut himself in his room. Nobody had seen him since then.

It was not rare for Keima to stay in his room for an extended period of time. He was an avid gamer and his room was more of a gaming area than a proper bedroom. As the internet famous “God of Conquest”, he would shut himself in his gaming study for hours, sometimes days, simultaneously playing multiple consoles to conquer girls in a wide variety of bishoujo games. There were few things more important to him than his conquests of 2D girls and there was nothing he detested more than reality.

Despite this, even Keima would leave his room to go to school or to eat. He was more than aware of the real world limitations of his body. However, as far as Elsie or his mother knew, he had not left his room even once in the past five days, let alone gone outside the house. It was getting to the point that they were starting to become seriously worried about him.

Nobody but Keima knew the reason he had not come out, but even he didn’t yet understand it. Right now, it was like trying to forget a bad memory. As far as he was concerned, it was just another reason his ideal world was detached from the real one.

A few minutes after Elsie’s pleading ended, the lock on the other side of the door finally snapped open with an audible click and the door creaked open steadily. Elsie was beaming with a pleased grin on her face as she was finally able to see her “Nii-sama” for the first time in several days. 

Keima’s hand was gripped around the side of the door as he finished pushing it open. It was not the best he had looked in his lifetime. His attire was the same casual dress he always had on when he was home, which consisted of a white button up collared shirt and grey pants. However, his chestnut brown hair was far messier than usual where even his signature bed head was sticking out more prominently. His thin framed glasses were slightly crooked as they obscured his brown eyes which looked worn down with a distinct lack of proper rest. His skin had become more pale due to the lack of exposure to the sun and he was partially emaciated. It was unclear how little nutrients he had gotten into his body in the last several days. It looked like he was fading away.

“Nii-sama, you look so...transparent!” Elsie proclaimed awkwardly. “I feel like I can see right through you! What have you been doing all this time?”

“So loud…” Keima sighed, popping back into focus. “What else would I be doing in here? Catching up on my games, of course! You think I’ve had any time to myself for the last couple of weeks? It’s been nothing but trouble! My reputation is on the line and I’ve had to maintain Conquest Mode for hours on end just so I can meet the demand! The smiles of 2D heroines are the only sustenance I’ve had in days!”

“Well geez, you could’ve at least said so beforehand!” Elsie complained, her smile turning quickly into a pout. “By the time I got home from the Mai-High festival you were already locked up in your room! Did you even stick around to see us perform? They’ve been talking about us around the campus!”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” Keima said dismissively, waving his hand at his disgruntled partner. “Does it matter? I earned this! I’ve had enough of the real world for a while! Demonic conspiracies, goddesses, dealing with moody _ real _ girls and having to execute all those routes at once? Give me a break! All I wanted was to return to my consoles and fall into the warm embrace of all the heroines who have been waiting for me to conquer them! Is that so wrong?”

“Well, I guess not…” Elsie hesitated, pushing her fingers together innocuously. “I know you worked hard to save the world and all, but still! You were in there for _ five days! _ If I didn’t manage to get you to come out this time, Mother was going to come up here and bust the door down! Not to mention the Goddesses have been asking me about you almost every day! Some of them don’t seem very happy with you, Nii-sama...”

“Right, I suppose they wouldn’t be.” Keima groaned, clutching his head. “I haven’t had time to think too much about my next course of action. Dealing with the real is such a pain! I haven’t been able to focus properly on my games!”

Keima’s mission to awaken the Jupiter Sisters did not end without consequences. Each of the Goddesses resided in a host body that matched their personality traits, and all of them happened to be close to Keima at home or school. Even worse, they were all girls from conquests he had to perform while recovering runaway spirits with Elsie. While their memories of the conquest were supposed to be erased, the presence of the Goddess within each girl counteracted this. Now he had six Goddesses all vying for him to fall in love with their hosts. 

“What are you going to do, Nii-sama?” Elsie inquired with concern. “How are you going to deal with the love of six different girls at the same time? It seems like it’ll be really tricky, especially with the Goddesses involved!”

“Elsie, allow me to teach you something useful.” Keima dramatically declared, pushing up his glasses. Elsie swore she could suddenly see him wearing a tuxedo with a wedding chapel appearing in the background, but it was just a normal hallucination induced by Keima’s sheer willpower.

“Dealing with harems is like cutting a wedding cake. You have to make sure every piece is the same size! Signed, Keima.” 

“Ummm, I don’t really get it.” Elsie admitted, scratching the side of her head as the illusion wore off. “Is the wedding part important?”

“Let me break it down simply so even _ you _ can understand it.” Keima stated haughtily. “In games, harem ends are notoriously difficult to achieve properly! Greed is a deadly sin in dating sims, and greedy players are certain to get caught in the pitfalls that lead to a bad end if they try for one! Maintaining a harem is like a balancing act on a tightrope! Each girl must get an equal amount of affection and this balance must be maintained perfectly throughout the route, or else a player will fall off and never reach the good end! It’s a path that must not be followed carelessly! Your love must be pure and equal for all heroines!”

“Ooookay, I think I get it.” Elsie said, nodding her head in response. “Does that mean you’re just going to try to love all of them equally?”

“What a foolish question!” Keima erupted, pointing his right hand dramatically at Elsie as his eyes flared up. “It’s hard enough in games as it stands, but reality is the shittiest game of them all! It’s not even worth considering trying a harem with real girls! They’re moody and emotionally unpredictable! Worst of all, they get _ jealous _. All the rampant jealousy would just ruin everything before we could even get on the route! No, it’s not possible. I’m not even going to entertain the idea. It was hard enough just kissing all of them!”

Elsie recoiled a little at his sudden outburst and stumbled backwards for a moment before catching her footing again.

“S-sorry…” she apologized meekly, her eyes pointed to the ground. “But if you’re not going to love them all equally, won’t you just have to pick one?”

“Perhaps.” Keima admitted, assuming a thinking pose with his right hand stroking his chin. “As it stands, if I do nothing to further my relationship with any of the girls, it’s likely those relationships will not change. However, there are a few variables I’ll have to keep in mind. If tensions begin to rise between them, especially with the Goddesses involved, I could be walking straight into the worst ending possible! On the other hand, if I theoretically decided on a single girl’s route instead, then naturally the other routes would disappear and the relationship structure would change. This would be far easier, but unlike in games I won’t be able to just conveniently avoid contact with the rest of them. I need more information on the current emotional state of the Goddesses and their hosts, but I can’t help but feel like if I did any reconnaissance I’d just become a punching bag…”

His speech trailed off and his eyes squinted like he was thinking hard about something he desperately wanted to avoid. Elsie gave him a reassuring smile filled with genuine respect. Her attention shifted over into the room behind him and noticed that it was darker than usual. The sheer amount of television screens and consoles he had were all turned off, which was unusual for him. Typically even if he saved he would leave them running for when he returned, despite the protests from his mother.

“Nii-sama, how come all of your games are turned off?” Elsie asked, tilting her head with a puzzled expression across her face. “Haven’t you been gaming all this time? Seems kinda weird to see everything so dark.”

“Oh, i-it’s no big deal.” Keima stuttered, his eyes running away from the subject. “I saved all my games before I opened the door. Even _ I _ can’t run away from the real world forever. Such is the curse of being bound to a 3D reality...what a pain in the ass! It really is such a pain.” 

He shuffled into the outside hallway and closed the doorway behind him in one smooth motion, whistling like he was trying too hard to not look suspicious. Elsie wasn’t bright enough to catch on and was more than ready to take his word for it. 

_ I can’t let Elsie know the truth… _ Keima thought to himself, biting his tongue. _ I feel like it would be humiliating if she knew what was going on. The idea of her losing respect for me is actually kind of painful. _

What he told Elsie was a textbook lie of omission. Keima had fully intended to do a five day gaming streak with Conquest Mode at full power. It was not that he didn’t try, but that he couldn’t maintain it. Something inside him was changing, like a foreign body had invaded his brain functions. He was completely unable to maintain the focus necessary for Conquest Mode for even half the time he usually could. This led to days of incredible frustration on his end trying to understand the root cause. At first he thought maybe he was getting sick again, but checking his own temperature proved otherwise. He tried to do warm-up exercises but gave up because it was too much trouble for someone as physically inept as he was. He even tried meditation but he couldn’t seem to ever clear his thoughts properly. The added frustration only made it harder for him to focus, and eventually he just started playing games normally. This cut his completion rate nearly in half, and he started feeling inferior because of it all. 

By the end of this five day streak, he had shut off his consoles in defeat. He was feeling strangely hollow completing games like there was something missing from his ideal world. The conclusion he ultimately came to was that it wasn’t a sickness or a disease, but an affliction of the mind.

Keima’s brain had been tainted by overexposure to “the real”. 

_ This is why I’ve been trying to avoid interacting with reality! _ Keima cursed in his mind. _ Nothing good can come of it. It’s taking my ideal world from me! Robbing me of all the heroines I could be conquering! I have to get myself back on track, but first I have to finish this ridiculous contract with the demons! Only then can I finally be free to go back to the game world! _

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he was rubbing his hands together with an intense facial expression that was stretching the muscles on his face. Elsie noticed this and slid back like she was being pushed away by a strong aura, her hagoromo holding her up from behind to maintain balance. 

“D-do you have something on your mind, Nii-sama?” Elsie prodded him carefully. “You look kinda scary right now…”

“Elsie.” Keima suddenly spoke, snapping his neck ninety degrees to meet her gaze. “Before dealing with this harem issue and _ anything _ else, we gotta deal with _ this _ first!”

He lightly tugged on the purple collar that was secured tightly to his neck. This was representative of the shackles he wore during his daily life: a guillotine collar that was forced upon him after he accidentally accepted the contract from Hell to help Elsie hunt down runaway spirits. If he even failed a single mission, him and Elsie would face certain decapitation. As such, this mutual desire to not have their heads lobbed off had drawn them together with great success. For Keima however, his greatest desire was to get the collar removed as fast as possible. With the sheer amount of runaway spirits that were left to capture, he had started to believe that was going to be a life sentence, but now things have changed.

“With all the Goddesses revived, I’m finally close to freedom!” Keima proclaimed with his arms outstretched in celebration. “I just have to talk them into coming up with a method for sealing all the rest of the runaway spirits and then this contract is history! As long as I don’t have to deal with any annoying fetch quests or sudden developments, I could be steps away from going back to my old life! The ending is in sight! Ahahaha!”

He comically put his hands to his hips and let out a triumphant laugh like he was some sort of cartoon villain. Elsie thought it was a little unsettling, but she didn’t say anything.

“Oh, for the love of...Keima!” A female voice shot up from the bottom of the stairs. Quickly ascending up to the second floor hallway, a woman wearing a light blue apron over a yellow sweater with a black turtleneck shirt underneath stormed into sight. Her bright orange hair was in a bun, and a mix of concern and irritation swirled in her eyes. Keima and Elsie both shot a look in her direction and had wildly different reactions, and for good reason.

“Mother! I got Nii-sama to come out of his room! Look, look!” Elsie cheered with excitement, looking like a puppy desperate to be praised for a job well done.

“Oh, good morning.” Keima greeted her blankly, his face suddenly conveying indifference.

Mari Katsuragi walked over to Elsie and gave her a loving pat on the head, to which Elsie giggled happily. She was completely immersed in the feeling of getting recognition from her beloved “mother”.

“You’re such a good girl, El!” Mari praised her, a motherly smile on her face. “I’m so lucky to have a daughter like you. You always listen to me and you’re so helpful! Oh, not every mother is so lucky. As for _ you _…”

Mari’s eyes shot over to Keima, who slightly recoiled at the pressure his mother was emitting towards him. She channeled a strong will that she had cultivated in the past as a member of a motorcycle gang, and it was not one that had dulled with age. She took her hand off Elsie’s head and stood in front of her beloved son who had been causing her so much trouble these past few days, her smile turning jagged and rough.

“Keima! Where do I even start with you?” Mari scolded him, her orange eyes glowing bright like a flame was lit under them. “I come back from South America after seeing your father, who was surprisingly healthy for someone on his deathbed, and you’re shut up in your room! Could it kill you to come out of your room to eat, or maybe even see your poor mother once in a while? I was worried, you know! My goodness, how did my son turn out like this?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it…” Keima groaned, smoothing out his bed head as much as possible with his fingers to make himself look a little more presentable.

“Well, if you get it, then come downstairs to the café!” His mother urged him, already walking back down the hallway to descend the stairs to the first floor. “Have some breakfast and then go outside already! If I see you go back to your room, I’ll come throw you back out by your hair!”

Keima’s face shrunk a little with apprehension, but he had no plans to go back to his room for now. With Elsie following closely behind, Keima made his way downstairs for the first time in days.

The café that his mother ran, Café Grandpa, was attached to the main house on the first floor through the kitchen. After descending the stairs and walking down the hallway to the kitchen, he pulled out one of his trusted PFPs from his back pocket and started playing games on it. The regular clicking of his fingers hitting all the buttons with speed and precision kept him calm and composed. It was unnatural for Keima to not be playing on his PFP whenever he got the chance, and he refused to let that change. 

Absentmindedly pushing open the door to the café, he walked in with Elsie cheerfully trailing behind him. Mari was diligently cleaning the countertops and getting all the kitchenware in the café organized properly before making breakfast. It was still relatively early in the day and it hadn’t been opened up for business yet, but there was a guest already here sitting at the bar drinking tea by herself. 

She had long dark violet hair and ruby red eyes shaped by years of diligence. The skull clip she wore on the left side of her head matched Elsie’s, as well as her purple hagoromo that hovered behind her neck. She wore a choker with a single chain link affixed to it, a maroon one-piece dress with a thistle colored miniskirt attached, and matching thigh-high stockings. She took a sip of her black tea and set the porcelain cup down gently on its saucer, sighing softly to herself as she tried to relax. 

“Haquaaaaaaa!” Elsie squealed with great enthusiasm, skipping up to her and nearly hugging her where she was sitting, startling her a little. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long! I was so busy pretending to be Kanon that we didn’t get to see each other!”

Haqua du Lot Herminium was Elsie’s best friend and a District Chief of the Runaway Spirit Squad. She had faced a lot of trouble recently on account of Vintage and got caught up in the heart of the conspiracy. After being interrogated, tortured, fired, and then even exiled, Haqua took charge with the task of taking down Vintage with the help of the Goddesses. With her name cleared, she was able to get her old job back, but not without some resentment for the system.

“Hi Elsie!” Haqua greeted her with a smile, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “It’s nice to see you again, especially now that most of this trouble is finally over. Sheesh, I feel like I haven’t been able to catch a break! I’ve been working so hard…”

Haqua’s train of thought derailed once she finally acknowledged that Keima was there standing behind the bubbly Elsie, his fingers still clicking all over his PFP with his eyes squinting from time to time to keep focus.

“H-hey Katsuragi…” Haqua half-mumbled a shy greeting, her face taking on a distinct shade of red that matched her eyes. “I-I haven’t seen you since that night with Ayumi...how has everything been going?”

“Alright, I guess.” Keima shrugged, his eyes still locked to his game. “Just trying to get back to my normal life here.”

“Geez!” Haqua whined. “Don’t you ever pay attention to anything other than your games? Stupid Katsuragi...you seemed so capable recently with the Goddesses and everything…”

Haqua’s complaining trailed off into somewhat of a backhanded compliment. Keima was used to this treatment from Haqua, but he was trying too hard to focus on his game to take in most of what she was saying. 

“Oh, Haqua! Haqua!” Elsie chimed in. “Tell me about what you were doing for the last couple of weeks! I haven’t heard _ anything _ about it because Nii-sama was holed up in his room ever since the festival ended!”

“How irresponsible, Katsuragi.” Haqua taunted, still flustered but with an air of smugness surrounding her. Keima didn’t flinch.

“Alright, well a lot happened...guess I’ll start from after we had you disguised as Kanon.”

She promptly explained most of the major events to Elsie, starting with Keima determining the potential Goddess candidates. She mostly took the time to explain the events that transpired in Hell after she confided in their boss, Dokuro Skull, about the infiltration of Vintage into the Runaway Spirit Squad and her prompt arrest and interrogation from the Department of Public Safety. Haqua was a prideful person by nature and she was slightly more dramatic about her personal role in the situation than necessary, but her recollection was still accurate. 

“Wow, I would’ve never guessed you got fired!” Elsie spoke up, invested in the story with her eyes wide. “But it’s good that they gave you your old job back and that you got to keep your Scythe of Testament!”

“Yeah, well, they probably would’ve needed to pry the Scythe out of my hands to begin with.” Haqua remarked, crossing her arms in a tough guy pose. “I didn’t even get a proper apology! Worst of all, all the credit to taking down Vintage went to Nora and now she’s the head section chief! They tortured me unlawfully in a cell for interrogation and Nora got credit for the shot taken at Public Safety too! I can’t believe that stuck-up demon is now my superior...how frustrating!”

“Well we _ did _ have a deal with her.” Keima spoke up suddenly, his unchanged expression frozen on his face. “You knew that after this was all over she was going to get the credit.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you!” Haqua shouted, her pointed finger propelling like a rocket towards Keima’s face. “I get that you had to keep her on our side, but did you really have to let her take _ all _ the credit?”

“Nora values status above all else.” Keima stated matter-of-factly, his eyes still locked to his PFP. “It was the logical conclusion to offer her something that she wanted. By appealing to her parameters, she helped us reach the proper ending.”

“I mean...you’re not wrong, I guess.” Haqua conceded, turning back around to take another sip of her tea. She put the cup back down on the saucer and sighed. “I’m still not happy about it!”

Elsie gave Haqua a sympathetic pat on the back as Mari finished cleaning the countertops and taking stock of everything in the café. She let out an audible sigh of relief and got ready to put the cleaning supplies away.

“Alright kids, I’ll be making breakfast before I open the café for business.” Mari announced as she walked towards the door to the kitchen. “You’re free to join us, Haqua!”

“Oh no, I couldn’t! I have work to do after this, anyways.” Haqua respectfully declined with her hands raised in a modest gesture. “I appreciate the invitation, Mrs. Katsuragi.”

“Oh stop it!” Mari affectionately responded to Haqua’s formal speech with a bashful smile. “You know you’re always welcome here, Haqua! As far as I’m concerned, you could be my second daughter! You and El look like sisters, after all!”

Haqua awkwardly laughed in response, looking a little embarrassed at the comment. Elsie on the other hand was beaming with joy, her eyes like headlights washing over Haqua as if she had suddenly become an adopted part of the Katsuragi family. 

“I’ll just take some toast.” Keima passively responded, still glued completely to his game. “I’ll eat it on the way to school.”

“Keima, please!” His mother nagged at him with maternal concern, almost halfway through the door. “Don’t you think you should have a more filling breakfast? You’re practically skin and bones!”

“I’ll be fine.” Keima shrugged, his bones rattling in response. “I’ll just pick something up at school if it becomes a problem.”

Mari sighed in defeat and walked out of the café into the kitchen as Keima began to follow, the clicking sounds of his PFP still orbiting him closely. He didn’t even look up as he made his way back over towards the house. 

“Nii-sama! W-wait!” Elsie cried out, noticing he was leaving. “Why don’t you wanna eat breakfast with us? I wanna walk to school with you! We could even watch some of the recordings of me as Kanon! I wanna see those too!”

“Elsie, listen.” Keima ordered, coming to halt very briefly. “I don’t have time to waste. I need to get to school and start judging the current state of things. If I want to start on the right foot for getting to the proper ending, I need to assess the status quo. Most people at school should still think I’m dating Kanon, assuming new rumors haven’t spread around about me. This was useful before, but now it’s going to become an inconvenience. There’s also the fact that I will almost certainly run into some of the Goddesses, considering there’s two in my class as it stands. I need to approach them all separately and figure out their feelings towards me right now. That way, I can form a proper strategy to help expedite the process of sealing the remaining runaway spirits! If I don’t reset things properly with them, it’s going to get in the way, so I’m going to need to work on them sooner rather than later! Do you understand?”

“Uuuuu…” Elsie sulked, her face looking scrunched up and dejected as she held her broom close. “I understand, Nii-sama. I’ll eat breakfast with Mother and then I’ll catch up to you at school.”

Keima silently nodded and resumed his pace, his fingers creating afterimages as the PFP noises promptly followed him once again out into the kitchen, across the hall, and back up the stairs. Though it seemed like he was just returning to his room, he actually needed to put on his uniform.

“Man, that Katsuragi! What a handful.” Haqua commented, finally standing up and stretching her arms with her hagoromo floating behind her shoulders. “He doesn’t change much, does he? Still engrossed in his games and talking about big plans in that tone of his. I wonder if he thinks it’ll be so easy to get the runaway spirits sealed again?”

“I don’t know…” Elsie replied, her eyes angled up like she was trying to stare at her own brain which was deep in thought. “Nii-sama seems different somehow, but I can’t really explain it. He’s still playing games and he says the same kind of things but it’s like...he’s not all there. Maybe something happened to him?”

“I’m not sure.” Haqua spoke with uncertainty. “He seemed normal when I was with him last, but I guess things did get a little dicey when he was conquering Ayumi back when Vintage captured the Goddesses. One of the girls in your class, no, in your band too...she caught onto what was going on and we had to explain it to her, and then she tried to ruin everything! But then I guess she helped out in the end...maybe that had something to do with it? Who knows, you can never tell what _ that guy _ is thinking.”

“Wait, someone from the 2B Pencils was there other than Ayumi?” Elsie inquired with genuine curiosity in her eyes and a bad feeling rolling in the back of her mind. “Who was it?”

Haqua took a second to think, feeling a little bad that she wasn’t able to recall her name immediately considering that she had posed as Elsie at school briefly while helping Keima find and awaken the Jupiter Sisters. She thought of the girl she had seen at band practice who was practically the leader of the group and it started coming back to her. It wasn’t long before she channeled her memory and found the information that she was looking for.

“Oh, right!” Haqua exclaimed, snapping her fingers as her eyes lit up like a lightbulb in her brain finally turned on. She picked up her Scythe of Testament which she had hidden under the café bar with her magic and rested it against her shoulder, getting ready to get back to work.

“Her name was Kosaka. Chihiro Kosaka.”

** _(~~~)_ **

_ This is bad. My focus is getting worse. Playing games is like breathing for me, I shouldn’t have to focus on it! It should be natural! My desire to conquer any heroine should pull me towards the ending without any reservations! And yet I can barely try to play and talk at the same time! What is wrong with me? Has reality really poisoned me this deeply and I just didn’t notice it until it was too late? At what point...did I start feeling like this? _

Keima Katsuragi was walking to school with trouble in his heart and toast in his mouth. He had wasted no time donning the scarlet red jacket and white scarf that completed the Mai-High school uniform, retrieving his orange school backpack before he swiftly grabbed his paltry breakfast, put his outdoor shoes on, and promptly left the house to take the path to school. His PFP was back in his hands, but he had been facing a great deal of resistance that he had still yet to process.

Back at Café Grandpa, Keima had already begun struggling internally while Haqua and Elsie were talking. As it turned out, it wasn’t that Keima was ignoring them, but that he couldn’t focus on what they were saying while he was trying to play his games. Typically he would choose whether or not he wanted to filter in sensory information from the outside while his mind was trained on his 2D conquests, but he had hit a wall in his brain that made the choice for him. His mind was pounding at the door in frustration. 

There was a mental itch that he couldn’t scratch. It was a foreboding feeling that was sapping his focus, taking away his power to process simultaneous information. He was determined to overcome this by any means necessary.

_ I have to take back my ordinary life! _ Keima declared with the internal image of himself standing victorious on a ruthless battlefield. _ All I have to do is trigger a few more flags and then I can stride towards freedom. I’m so close to the ending! I can’t afford to lose sight of myself now! _

Keima continued to persist, attempting to keep the momentum of his fingers steady as he continued his path to conquering heroines on his PFP. In an unflattering fashion, he dragged the rest of the toast into his mouth with his teeth, not even thinking about the fact that this was the first time he had eaten anything in days. Like a magnet, he was being pulled towards the direction of the school and he didn’t even bother looking up or wasting brainpower thinking about it.

_ These feelings could have manifested at any time while I was hunting down runaway spirits. _ Keima contemplated to himself as he swallowed the rest of his breakfast. _ It’s too hard to determine the exact point of origin, but the event that set all this into motion...it had to be that night on the roof. A catalyst like that is the only logical explanation there is for this sudden development. _

***

With the click of a film projector beginning to roll, a scene popped into his mind. He was back on the roof at school. It was nighttime, and the embers of the bonfire in the track field below cast an orange glow in the darkness.

He stood across from a girl with short brown hair and a flower hair clip adoring the side of her face. There were tears in her eyes. He couldn’t face them.

He tried to choke back the words he had just said, but it was far too late. They had already come out.

She ran towards the stairs.

_ Wait… _ He begged her, but the words never escaped his chest. _ Come back… _

She was already gone. Someone else stood in the shadows as a witness. He fruitlessly ran after her to the top of the stairs and stopped like he was frozen in place, staring at the ghost of where she used to be. 

His eyes were like mirrors simply reflecting what he saw in disbelief. His heart was attempting to escape its cage. It felt like he was running out of air, his thoughts racing in a loop on a single track in his mind.

Then his world turned still, and all that was left was regret.

_ What...did I just do? _

The projector sputtered and the roll of film spun out of focus. The scene burned from the inside out.

***

By the time Keima came back to his senses, his fingers awkwardly slipped on his right hand trying to hit the shoulder button on his PFP. His grip had softened as he recalled the painful memory that he had buried over the last few days in such a nonchalant manner. As a result, the PFP squeaked out of his hands like it was a bar of soap in the bath and took flight. Keima gasped with the force of a gut punch. He realized far too late that it was out of his hands.

“Crap!” He exclaimed as he tried to correct his course to stop the PFP from hitting the ground at full force, smoothly pivoting his back foot with determination. “I didn’t have time to _ save! _ I’ve put in so much work to prove Princess Shibutani’s innocence in the war tribunal! All my efforts will go to waste...I have to _ save her! _”

He kicked off with his feet and leaped with a fire lit in his heart. He remembered his true purpose as the God of Conquest and flew through the air like an arrow sailing right towards its target. 

_ For the game world....for heroines everywhere...please reach! _

However, this was the cruel reality that he despised so much.

Keima’s physical prowess was par for the course as he faceplanted spectacularly on the paved ground, his glasses sliding off his face only to be stopped by his outstretched hands which held nothing but air. He was too dejected to look up to confirm whether or not his PFP had made it out in one piece, instead opting to wait for the sound of its shell crashing against the ground. He simply laid there and waited for a full minute before he felt confusion at the silence that followed.

It was then that a timid and concerned voice spoke up.

“U-um...Keima? A-are you okay? Your game console...kind of fell into my hands…”

Keima quickly pulled his glasses back in front of his eyes, coughing as he unstuck his face from the ground and turned over to try to get back on his feet. His eyes met the source of the voice, but he had already figured out who it was long before he even had to look.

Her dark hair was braided on both sides and held up with large pink ribbons with bangs that used to be long enough to cover her eyes. She was slightly obscuring herself behind a telephone pole but she was visible from Keima’s point of view. There was a slight blush on her face and her gaze wandered around him as she held his PFP safely in her left hand, a rice ball in the other.

“Tenri…” Keima greeted her as he steadied himself to his feet, brushing the debris off of his uniform. “You saved me.”

Tenri Ayukawa was Keima’s childhood friend and current next-door neighbor. Her feelings for him were not a well-kept secret, but she also understood more about him than many of the others who surrounded him. In a sense, she understood the most about his situation than anyone except the demons. 

“N-no, I didn’t…” Tenri insisted, her shoulders squirming a bit as she shot a shy look towards the ground. “All I did was catch your game…”

“Exactly.” Keima reinforced his praise, gently taking the PFP out of her hand and popping it back into his own. “I mean, I hadn’t saved yet! That would’ve been such a pain to get through again. The game doesn’t even have a proper text skip feature, so I would’ve had to waste time mashing until I got to the choices again! I can’t believe developers would forsake such an important part of their game! It’s absurd, really.”

Tenri’s look of wonder and confusion at Keima’s rambling turned to a smile and a light giggle of relief, finally shedding a layer of worry that had surrounded her for days. Keima began to walk again in the direction of the school and Tenri followed behind him without any acknowledgement. For a little while, she simply munched on her rice ball in silence. She was eager to talk more with Keima, so she made sure to finish her breakfast quickly.

“I’m glad…” Tenri spoke earnestly, watching his back fondly. “I d-didn’t think you were going to come out today. I was worried, but um...it seems like you’re doing alright.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Keima affirmed. “The Goddesses are all awake and the hunt for runaway spirits is over. All that’s left is to return the state of things to normal and I can have my old life back.”

Tenri silently nodded, taking in his words as she was deep in thought. Though she was relieved to see Keima out of the house and back to his old self, she couldn’t help but feel a remaining smidgen of doubt sprinkled at the front of her mind. Much like Elsie, Tenri felt that something was off about Keima, like a subtle transformation inside him was just beginning to take shape.

“U-um...Keima.” Tenri began, stammering as she clenched her fists for support. “A-are you...worried about how the others will think of you? I don’t think they’ll be too upset with you...you did what you had to do to protect everyone. Um...I t-think they’ll realize that if you give them some time.”

Only the sounds of Keima’s fingers tapping and the occasional voice line or electronic jingle rang out as the silence maintained itself between the two parties. Tenri felt anxiety well up inside her, fearing that she had said more than she should have. 

“How absurd.” Keima muttered under his breath.

“K-Keima? Uh, um, did you say something?”

“Like I’d care what _ real _ girls think of me, anyways!” Keima fumed, blowing smoke out of his mouth like a chimney. Tenri hopped back in surprise at the sudden outburst, putting her hands up in a makeshift defense.

“I’ve made it my whole life not worrying about the opinions of _ reals _ and there’s no reason that should change now! The only reason I did any of this is because I thought it was going to be the quickest route to the ending! Every flag I triggered, every event I started, it was all to finish this _ stupid _ contract! The last thing I would be right now is worried.”

Keima was puffed up like a bloated aristocrat, comically offended at the concept that he would feel any concern towards outside opinions. Tenri playfully acted scared, but she knew deep down that he wasn’t really angry at what she had said. Despite her reserved nature, Tenri had grown while interacting with Keima and she learned to read him better as a result. 

_ Keima might really think that he’s fine, but I still feel like he might be struggling somehow. _ Tenri mused as she continued to follow behind him. _ It feels like he’s forcing himself to act like everything is normal...maybe we've been relying on him too much lately_.

“By the way, Tenri.” Keima spoke up again, his composure restored. “You know you’ve been following me to _ my _school, right? Did you forget which school you go to?”

“Huh?”

Tenri finally looked up and noticed they were surprisingly close to the generously sized Maijima Private High School campus. It wouldn’t take anyone much time to tell she was out of place since her red and white sailor uniform with a pink tie hardly resembled the female uniforms at Keima’s school. Tenri had accounted for this though, and considering how early they had arrived, she knew she would have plenty of time to backtrack and make it on time to her school, Misato Hisagi High School.

“You should get going.” Keima remarked, his head still buried in his games as he walked through the school gate. “I’ve got some things to do.”

“Katsuragi.” A stern voice suddenly spoke up from Tenri’s direction. Keima didn’t turn around, but he already knew who that voice had to belong to.

“Diana. So you’ve decided to come out.”

Diana was the third child of the Jupiter Sisters; one of the six Goddesses who sealed Old Hell. She was the first Goddess that Keima ever came in contact with, residing inside of Tenri since the earthquake incident ten years ago. Diana and Tenri shared the same strong affections for Keima, and they were the most in sync out of all the hosts. They looked out for each other, but Diana was rather overprotective on her end.

Diana’s control of Tenri’s body turned her eyes sharp and red with a divine halo hovering gracefully above her head. 

“What kind of man are you? Hiding in your residence for days on end and pointlessly worrying Tenri?” Diana criticized, pointing her finger accusingly at Keima. “You should be taking responsibility for this!”

“You know, I was surprised to see your wings had fully grown.” Keima said, brushing off Diana’s venomous speech. “When Vintage hit first and captured all of my past conquests, I wasn’t sure if Tenri would find the note I left. It was a chance event, and even then, I didn’t know whether or not it would be enough to push the affection level high enough to pass. It was good to know I calculated accurately.”

“You roach, I can’t believe you!” Diana growled, her face clearly flustered. “I couldn’t believe it when Tenri told me what you wrote, and yet it made me feel that way! Did you even mean anything you said in that note? You unfaithful brute!”

“Of course I did. Would you like to take me up on it now?”

Keima looked back with a twinkle reflecting in his glasses like a divine light. Diana felt the air in Tenri’s lungs stop as their hearts started beating faster, but she wrenched her own neck in the other direction in order to regain her pride for the time being.

“Right in front of your school? Hardly.” Diana scoffed, her back turned to Keima. “I-it matters not. Tonight, us Goddesses are having a meeting at Tenri’s residence. It will be convenient for you as her next door neighbor as I expect you to show up and explain yourself to my sisters and I. I won’t take any excuses, Katsuragi.”

“Wait, you want _ me _ to come?” Keima asked, half inquiring and half protesting. “You make this sound like I’m going to be showing up for a court case. What a pain.”

“_Somebody _ has to take responsibility for their actions.” Diana countered. “You’ve been hiding long enough, Katsuragi. Tenri will be happy to see you tonight. Be grateful that she is more merciful than I.”

Keima remained silent and felt Diana’s imposing presence disappear behind him as he still faced the entrance to the school. In the moments following, he heard the sounds of worried mumbling behind him in the same direction.

“K-Keima…” Tenri squeaked with embarrassment, back in control of her own body. “I-I’m sorry about Diana. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, b-but maybe you should so everybody can be on the same page...I’m gonna go now. Bye!”

Tenri scuttered off at a decent speed and quickly went out of sight. Keima sighed to himself, taking a breather before picking back up where he left off with his game, making his way through the entrance gate and across campus towards the school building where his classroom was located.

_ The note…was that a good idea? It was effective, but I’m starting to wonder if choices like these are bound to trigger more flags than I anticipated. I’ve never been concerned with my methods before, but unwanted events keep popping up. I get the results I want, but then it seems like that’s not the end of it. Is this...really the proper way of doing things? _

Keima ruminated on this topic as he moved closer to his destination: Class 2-B. He silently understood that this was going to be the beginning of a long and arduous reclamation of his normal life, but he underestimated the extent of the battle going on inside of his head. As far as he was concerned, everything would be over once he reset the conditions back to zero. What he didn’t know is that this battle was just the beginning of something much worse. A large scale internal conflict had lobbed its first blows, and he was hopelessly trapped on a path to facing it head on. For him, there was nothing more irritating than the conditions that were out of his control.

He took his first steps right into the fray, and climbed the stairs to the point of no return.

_ Geez...what a shitty game. _


	3. Resolve

#  **RESET FLAG. 2 [Resolve]**

_ ~ next time i see you i’ll find better words than “i’m sorry” ~ _

* * *

“Chief Dokuro has been arrested?!”

Haqua couldn’t believe what she was reading.

Not long after Keima had left the house for school, Haqua was getting ready to leave Café Grandpa when a transmission came through from her superiors to her runaway spirit sensor. The skull shaped sensor on his head shone brightly as a high pitched beep emitted from it prompting for her to authorize her identity to access the message. Haqua naturally brought her left hand up to the sensor and touched it so it could authorize her biometric signature. When the access was granted, a message materialized into Haqua’s hands and she diligently read through the information which led her to this stunned outburst.

Elsie had already gone into the kitchen with Mari to eat breakfast before attempting to catch up to Keima at school, leaving Haqua alone near the café’s main entrance from the outside. She was in complete shock at the news, and her brain was racing in a desperate effort to comprehend what had led up to this.

As if answering a silent plea, the door swung open next to Haqua without hesitation. Right on cue to make an entrance, a figure of authority waltzed into the café with unwavering confidence. It was a woman who was slightly taller than Haqua, her tanned skin and white hair giving her an aura of mysterious beauty. She dressed in a black top and shorts with a red belt that made no great effort to hide her voluptuous body.

However, the thing that truly made her stand out was the single jagged horn that extended up out of the right side of her head. Equipped with a skull sensor and lavender hagoromo, there was no room for doubt.

She too, was a demon.

“Fretting this early in the morning, are we?” The woman teased, approaching Haqua with an air of superiority. “That’s very like you.”

“Nora!” Haqua shouted with a mix of surprise and frustration, still gripping the message in disbelief. “Did you read this already? What the hell is going on?!”

“Take a look, Haqua.” Nora ordered, completely disregarding her questions. Nora pointed over to her left arm, which was adorned with a lustrous armband with five shining gemstones inserted into its gaudy frame. “This is a symbol of status. Quite fitting for the Head District Chief, don’t you think?”

“Is now really the time?!”

Nora Floriann Leoria, to Haqua’s displeasure, was the newly appointed Head District Chief who used to serve as a District Chief where Elsie and Keima were stationed in Maijima City. As a member of the royal Leoria family with Old Devil blood, she was haughty and self-absorbed, thinking little of anything other than climbing the social ladder to achieve personal status and notoriety. She was neither an ally nor an enemy, and Haqua begrudgingly had to admit that she was helpful with suppressing Vintage despite her obvious ulterior motives.

“Relax, I’m not here to gloat. I can do that later.” Nora reassured, shrugging with self-satisfaction. “I take it you just read the news about the chief, yes?”

“This can’t be right!” Haqua protested, waving the notice in front of Nora’s face. “There has to be a mistake! Why would the chief be discharged and arrested?!”

Nora quickly snatched the notice out of Haqua’s hands and read over it again, her cherry red eyes scrolling over the information. Like all official messages from their superiors, it was written strictly in Hell script that only demons could understand. 

_ Dokuro Skull, the Chief of the Hell Spiritual Countermeasures Branch, has been accused of treason and will be discharged, effective immediately. They have been taken into custody by the Department of Public Safety and will be tried at a private hearing for their crimes. Until further notice, the position of Chief will be succeeded by the Ministry’s Deputy Director, Needles Moura Rami, as a concurrent post. Signed, Midas Los, Constitutional Ministry. _

“This is serious, Haqua.” Nora warned, putting the notice down. “These were direct orders from the directors at the Ministry. For your discharge, it was a far more generous sentence.”

“Why treason?” Haqua asked, struggling to come to terms with this new information. “What could the Chief have possibly done to be accused of such a thing?”

“I was curious to know myself, but the answer was more shocking than I anticipated.” Nora recalled, taking a seat at the café bar and resting her legs up on the adjacent stool. “It seems the Chief...was the leader of Vintage.”

“No way! The Chief would never!” Haqua rebutted. “Everything she worked for went against what Vintage was trying to accomplish! It makes no sense for her to be the boss of an organization like that!”

“Say what you will, but there’s no denying her involvement in this.” Nora insisted. “The only reason the Chief was able to let you escape Hell back into the human world was because she had the authority to make Vintage look the other way. That means she had power and direct communication with the enemy. Surely an overachiever like yourself can put the pieces together, can’t you?”

With great frustration, Haqua conceded to the fact that Chief Dokuro had to be involved with Vintage. The Chief herself had already revealed this fact to her after freeing her from captivity, but the reality was too much to bear. Haqua’s devotion to the person she saw as a hero was too strong to be broken, even when the truth was plain to see. She refused to accept this was the whole story.

“I suppose it’s impossible to deny the Chief was a part of Vintage.” Haqua admitted, gritting her teeth. “However! She had to have a good reason for it! We have to go back to Hell and find out while we have the chance! Then maybe...maybe we can help her! We’ll just need to come up with a good plan to sa-”

“Don’t be naive, Haqua.” Nora interrupted her with a stern tone of voice. “Did you learn nothing from Vintage’s infiltration into the Runaway Spirit Squad? The system you pride so much has been compromised from the inside. Vintage was just a pawn in this game and now the pieces are falling.”

“B-but...we can’t just do _ nothing! _” Haqua pleaded with a conflicted heart. “What you’re saying makes sense, but I can’t accept this!”

“I’ve faced a lot of this in my line of work. You’re better off doing nothing.” Nora advised, swinging her legs back over and crossing them in front of her. “Even if the boss is technically innocent, it doesn’t matter. She’s the scapegoat of this little incident. This ‘private hearing’ they mentioned is just a kangaroo court masquerading as a fair trial. She’ll be guilty as charged the second she steps foot in there and executed immediately. This will leak out into the public and everyone will think that the last remains of Vintage have finally been crushed to dust in the name of peace. Face it, Haqua. The Chief is as good as dead.”

“Even so...even so!” Haqua fought back against logic and reason. “I’m going back to Hell and seeing for myself! I want answers...I couldn’t live with myself just sitting around here acting like nothing is happening!”

“Hah, hell if I care!” Nora jeered, jumping back on her feet and striding towards the café entrance. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s suicide to try and get involved in this. Do you really think Public Safety is going to let you see the Chief after they just had you detained? Don’t get such a big head just because you got your job back.”

“What about you, Nora?” Haqua shot back. “Are you really going to stand by and let this happen? 

“I don’t pick fights I know I can’t win.” Nora shrugged, opening the café entrance and taking a step outside. “If you want to throw yourself off this cliff, be my guest.”

Getting in the last word, Nora made her exit from the café and flew off into the distance. Haqua could only stand there, agonizing over the choice she was determined to make. She clenched her hand around the handle of her scythe and squeezed hard, exerting only a fraction of the pressure she felt inside. This scythe represented what she had accomplished and what she believed in. She didn’t want to betray those feelings.

_ I’ll get to the bottom of this...Nora is wrong! I can still do something! _

Haqua’s resolve was certain. She planned to return to Hell to deal with this incident as soon as possible.

** _(~~~)_ **

Maijima Academy was separated into two buildings, east and west, and both sides were constructed with symmetrical architecture. The west building housed the middle school classrooms and facilities, while the east building was for the high school. Located on the third floor of the east school building was Class 2-B, Keima’s classroom. The campus buildings were relatively large, so the staircases that led up to the third floor were fairly long and it was a bit of an exercise going up and down them every day. For Keima, this was the only real exercise he got all day, so even with his weak constitution, he was still able to climb them without any real effort.

Keima had entered the east school building with a decent amount of time to spare before homeroom started. Time was crucial, so he made sure that no matter what, he would make it to his classroom so he could start making mental preparations. There were a handful of students around him mingling in the halls, but he paid no mind to them as he continued to play games on his PFP as per usual.

In his mind, he had created a tier list of the Goddesses and their hosts. By factoring in his level of involvement in their awakening and estimating their current opinion of him, he was able to roughly toss together a scale of difficulty for approaching each of them. Now that he was expected to show up at Tenri’s house tonight to appease them, he had an established timeframe. He needed to check on the hosts and potentially improve their opinion of him by the time clubs ended at the end of the day. If the hosts are happier, the Goddesses will be easier to handle. This was the logic behind Keima’s planning.

_ I was fortunate that I ran into Tenri first. _ Keima thought as he steadily climbed the stairs up to the third floor of the building. _ I knew she would be the easiest to get a read on, even factoring in Diana’s presence. I shouldn’t take her for granted while I have the chance. It’s a good start, but now comes the hard part. The biggest challenge is in the same class as me. _

Keima ascended the last of the steps to the third floor and took a left down the hallway towards the entrance to his classroom. The sliding door was closed when he reached it. Lost in his thoughts, he pulled open the door without thinking and attempted to enter the classroom, but there was already someone standing there in front of him. When his senses caught up, he had the impulse to look up from his game and see who it was. It was at this moment that his brain hit the red alert switch.

Standing there was a girl with short, dark brown hair and a pink headband neatly fitted above her bangs. Her eyes matched her hair, soft with a carefree expression. When she noticed who was standing in front of her, a look of conflict immediately became visible on her face. This conflicted gaze spread to Keima as well who was completely caught off guard.

_ Shit! _ Keima exclaimed internally, frozen in place. _ It’s Ayumi! There’s no way to avoid this event now! What a miscalculation...I need to think of something to say. The first words that come out of my mouth will be the most important. I can forget affection points, but I can’t afford to come off as uncaring or else it will only serve to hurt me in the long run. This will be difficult. Ayumi has the most reason to be upset with me and I don’t know anything about her Goddess. I can’t afford to make any mistakes here…what do I say to break the ice? _

Ayumi Takahara was a simple, athletic girl who was generally cheerful and tried not to think too hard about things. She was Keima’s first ever conquest, and the host of the Goddess Mercury. Due to certain circumstances, Ayumi had learned that Keima’s love was unfaithful and proved to be a challenge to awaken. Strapped for time, Keima had to make the most direct advance towards awakening her Goddess and that came with consequences he had yet to face until now.

The seconds felt like minutes as Keima and Ayumi faced each other without saying anything or making any effort to move. Keima’s brain was wired, electrical impulses shooting off faster than ever so that he could make a quick decision. He knew that he had to make the first move or else this could turn to disaster. 

Her name dropped out of his mouth. “Ayumi.” He looked her directly in the eyes. “I see that you’re doing we-”

Keima was about to finish his sentence when he realized something alarming that he hadn’t noticed before. It seemed like Ayumi was getting closer to him somehow, but in reality, he was getting closer to her, leaning in towards her at a dangerous arc.

He was falling. Keima’s legs were giving out.

In haste, Keima underestimated his physical fatigue, opting in for a small breakfast thinking that it would be enough to support him. However, the amount of muscular atrophy he’d suffered in the past several days from a lack of proper exercise or nutrition, combined with the fact that he’d exerted so much energy already getting to school and up to his classroom, had led to an inevitable conclusion. The shock from running into Ayumi was simply the last domino to fall, and now he too was falling.

Keima slumped into Ayumi’s chest like a ragdoll, and she caught him instinctively with her hands gripping his upper arms for support. Keima’s heart practically stopped beating. Ayumi’s was beating too much, but for both the right and wrong reasons.

_ This is bad. _ Keima judged the situation with despair, his face blushing from the sudden physical contact. _ I was too concerned with following the right route but not enough with my physical limitations! Another reason why I hate dealing with the real so much! I have to think quickly while I still have a chance to avoid the worst case scenario! What can I say to diffuse this situation? _

“Katsuragi.” Ayumi finally spoke, her voice channelling a cold indifference. “What are you doing?”

Keima couldn’t see her face, but he could imagine her expression didn’t bode well for him. He was rushing to say anything at this point that didn’t make things worse, so before he knew it, he simply said the first thing that came to mind.

“Ayumi…” Keima weakly replied, his head craning away from her body. “I...haven’t eaten more than a single piece of toast in the last five days. I can’t move my legs. Could you gently put me down?”

Ayumi didn’t say anything in response. At first, Keima thought she might not have heard him, or maybe that she wasn’t listening. However, after a few brief moments, Ayumi lowered Keima to the ground, his PFP still gripped in his hands, and then let him drop to the floor in front of the classroom. Ayumi walked back into the classroom and Keima could hear her go to her desk briefly, rustling around in some indeterminate location for about a minute before the footsteps returned to his location. 

A solid object in a plastic wrapper smacked against Keima’s face and promptly fell to the floor in front of him. Adjusting his glasses again, he noticed that it was one of the omelette soba breads that was sold at the popular food stand behind the high school building. Keima noticed Ayumi’s legs were standing in the doorway again, which made it clear where the food had been propelled from.

“Ugh! I can’t believe you, Katsuragi!” Ayumi fumed from above him. “After _ everything _ that happened, you decide not to show up for days! What the heck is your problem! Do you know how hard it has been to explain to my parents what was going on?! And now I’m wasting my extra calories on you! I can’t believe I’m actually feeling bad for you right now!”

Keima meekly reached for the omelette soba bread and dragged it over to his side, slowly opening the plastic wrapper to reveal the appetizing food inside. The fragrance of the special sauce used in the bread wafted out, making Keima feel hungrier than he’d ever been. He promptly took a bite, the delectable mix of the omelette and the yakisoba bread inside swirling in his mouth. For a split second, Keima was very thankful to be alive, feeling the energy begin to return to his incapacitated body.

He thought back to the moment on the Akanemaru in Misaki Seaside Park where Ayumi kissed him, bringing the Goddess out from inside her. He thought of all the trouble he put her through up until that moment. There was an indescribable feeling in his gut that he was starting to notice. 

Keima used his newfound strength to get back on his feet, still wobbling a little bit from the fatigue. He put his PFP into his back pocket but continued to hold onto the bread, intending to finish it. Ayumi tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for a proper response to her question.

“Ayumi, it seems like I’ve caused some trouble for you.” Keima acknowledged, looking right at her. His expression was the embodiment of serious. “That was not my intention. I don’t expect you to accept this answer, but I apologize. I’d like to make up for it in a reasonable fashion.”

The tapping stopped. Ayumi’s body froze. It was not the response she was expecting.

_ Katsuragi...is apologizing? _ Ayumi’s thoughts were in disarray, bewildered at what she was hearing. _ A-and he wants to make up for what he did? W-w-what the heck?! What is he playing at? Is he...for real? _

Keima’s expression did not waver. Ayumi was trying to maintain a poker face, but she could feel it heating up. She turned her back to Keima and faced the inside of the classroom.

“Hah! Y-You can’t be serious.” Ayumi rejected his apology halfheartedly. “You would never apologize to a _ real _ girl. That’s not your style, Katsuragi.”

“I suppose you have a point.” Keima admitted, staring at the bread in his hand. “But I mean it this time. I’m sure it’s been troublesome. I don’t need to be liked, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I enjoy inconveniencing others. I just did what I needed to reach the ending.”

_ Katsuragi sounds so sincere… _ Ayumi reasoned with herself, struggling with her emotions. _ B-But I can’t trust him! He lied to me...he told me he loved me when he really didn’t! He still hasn’t explained a single thing to me! How am I supposed to know...if he’s being honest or not? _

Ayumi sighed, turning back to face Keima again who was taking another bite out of the omelette soba bread. She felt strangely satisfied that he was enjoying it.

“You still owe me answers, Katsuragi.” Ayumi reminded him, calling back to something he’d said back at the Akanemaru. “You never told me when you were going to tell me everything. If you want to make it up to me, then you need to tell me soon. I want to know.”

Keima hesitated at first, but then he nodded in acceptance. “Fair enough. I have one question for you, though.”

“What is it?”

“How has band practice been?”

“Huh?” Ayumi was confused. She didn’t understand how this question was related to what they were talking about, but she humored him anyways. “It’s been fine, I guess. We’ve been taking it easy since the show. We’ve been getting some fanmail, but most of it has been for Chihiro. Guess that’s what happens when you’re the face of the band...but that’s beside the point. Why did you want to know?”

“It’s nothing.” Keima shrugged, walking by her into the classroom. “You’ll get your answers soon. Thanks for the food.”

“Huh, okay…sure.”

Keima walked over to his seat in the middle of the classroom and promptly sat down, finishing the omelette soba bread before pulling out his PFP again and resuming his game where he left off. Ayumi went over to her desk as well which was closer to the entrance they came through and sat down, staring at Keima like she was trying to pick him apart with her gaze alone.

Ayumi tried to put her thoughts in order. _ If Katsuragi is telling the truth then I’m finally going to get some answers. Good...but why did he ask about band practice? I don’t understand him. Was there something he was trying to figure out from all that? Or maybe...I’m just thinking too hard about it? _

Keima’s face was in his game, but his eyes shifted from time to time over at Ayumi. He contemplated to himself. 

_ Ayumi...that went better than I expected. That disaster gave me more of an opportunity than I imagined. It was inevitable that I was going to have to tell Ayumi the truth about all this, so this situation has become rather convenient. Still...I feel like I said more than necessary. I feel like I don’t have full control over what I’m saying...I must be overthinking this. _

Time passed as the both of them settled in, getting closer and closer to the start of homeroom. Keima kept an eye on the door, keeping track of the students that came in. At this point, he was simply waiting for Elsie to show up with the rest of the class. Now that he had already interacted with Ayumi, the biggest obstacle in his path had been taken care of.

Keima resumed his mental plan. _Elsie should be getting here soon._ _As I expected, Kanon won’t be showing up today. That was a given since we’ve already passed midterms. I’m going to have to meet with her last no matter what happens. Shiori and Tsukiyo will have to wait until after clubs start, and Yui is currently a wild card since she’s over in 2-A. I have a feeling she’ll come to me before I go to her, which will hopefully happen before band practice. Right now, I should just focus on getting to lunch break without any further issues._

The class door swung open again, and as Keima predicted, the bright and cheerful Elsie walked into the classroom with lunch in hand. Her hagoromo floated carefree around her and she practically skipped over to her desk which was near Ayumi’s. Two people followed behind her. One of them was Miyako Terada, the responsible and considerate girl who played keyboard in the light music club’s band, the 2B Pencils. She was one of the very few people in Keima’s class who didn’t call him names. She had long black hair and a sweet face that people could trust easily. Her seat was right behind Elsie’s.

However, the second person who followed made Keima’s heart stop. His head whipped back into his PFP, but his fingers wouldn’t move. Despite any mental preparation, he still was not ready to see her.

An average girl walked up to the seat diagonally behind him to the left. Her short brown bangs were parted normally with a single pink hair clip standing out on the left side. Her brown eyes seemed like they were full of energy as she sat down and continued talking with Elsie and Miyako. Her voice could’ve been in a crowd and Keima would’ve been able to pick it out. He winced.

_ Chihiro… _ Keima spoke her name aloud in his thoughts, burying his head further into his PFP. _ Why am I acting so surprised? She’s not involved in this! I don’t need to worry about her anymore...but why can’t I shake this horrible feeling? It’s like every time I see or think about her it throws me off! What…is going on with me? _

Keima thought about her. He pictured her smiling face during their date at the festival, and then her tear-stained eyes on the roof. He thought about the whole time she was there for Ayumi’s conquest, making things difficult but then helping in obtuse ways. He remembered walking her back to his house to pick up her guitar and saying their last farewells. He could not forget her performance on the stage during the final night of the Mai-High festival. He saw it all with perfect clarity in his mind.

He had broken Chihiro Kosaka’s heart. Since then, he had not been able to be the same person he was before.

Suddenly, there was a tap on his shoulder. Keima regained as much composure as possible and looked up to see who it was.

“Katsuragi, it’s nice to see you back at school.” The smiling Miyako addressed him as the source of the contact. “I hope it’s not a problem, but can I talk to you about something outside the classroom before homeroom starts?”

“Terada.” Keima greeted her, curious to hear what she wanted to say. “That’s fine with me.”

Keima put his PFP away and got up from his seat, following Miyako out from the classroom into the hall. Three pairs of eyes stared at them as they left, leading to much speculation between the parties.

“Elly, what the heck does Miyako want with your brother?” Chihiro asked Elsie, staring at the classroom door. “She just got up all of a sudden and asked Otamega to talk with her. Did she say anything to you?”

“Um, no, not me!” Elsie replied, shaking her head. “I didn’t walk with Nii-sama to school either, so I didn’t hear anything from him.”

“I didn’t hear anything about it either.” Ayumi called over from her seat to join the conversation. “Maybe we should just ask her about it at band practice?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Chihiro responded. She twiddled her thumbs like she had nothing better to do.

Outside of the classroom, Keima and Miyako stood a few feet away from the entrance to the classroom on the other side where there weren’t any windows. Keima hadn’t even considered Miyako as a part of this whole ordeal, so he assumed that she was going to ask him about something trivial. He was just glad to have a temporary excuse to leave the classroom.

“Thanks, Katsuragi.” Miyako expressed her gratitude. “I know you just got back to school and all, but I feel like you’re the only one left I can ask.”

“Sure. It’s not really a problem.” Keima replied. “What did you need?”

“Well, I wanted to talk about what happened the night before the performance, when you were at my house.” Miyako began, recalling the night that Keima tried to conquer Ayumi. “Chihiro told me she’d explain it later but neither her or Ayumi will tell me anything. They keep saying that it was nothing and not to worry about it. I know this might be a little touchy, and maybe I’m worrying over nothing, but could you tell me if that’s true?”

Keima was a little shocked at the question. He wasn’t expecting her to bring this event up, but the more he thought about it, the less surprising it was. They had holed up at the Terada residence while Vintage was pursuing them, and it was there that Chihiro revealed to Ayumi the truth about Keima’s conquest. Things escalated quickly, and Miyako had to clean up their mess without any idea of what was going on. Keima quickly weighed the options in his mind.

_ It makes sense that she wants to know what’s going on, but what do I tell her? I can’t tell her the truth or else she’ll get involved, and that would be a problem. Any further outside interference would only make this more difficult. If Chihiro and Ayumi aren’t going to talk about it, then there’s no risk...right? _

“They’re right.” Keima lied. “It really was nothing. Chihiro told Ayumi something I said and she overreacted. That’s all there was to it.”

“Ohhh, well okay then.” Miyako accepted his answer. “I was worried, but if you also say that it was nothing, then I guess I was just overthinking it! Thanks anyways, Katsuragi.”

“Yeah...sure.”

Miyako walked back to the classroom door and opened it, with Keima following behind silently. As she went back to her desk behind Elsie, Keima also returned to his desk, pulling his PFP back out in order to look occupied. 

_ I just need some time to get away from reality. _ Keima thought to himself. _ I only need the game world, I don’t need to deal with anything else. Once things are back to normal, this will just be a distant memory. Just me and conquering heroines. Just like it used to be. _

“Nii-sama!” Elsie called over to Keima with enthusiasm. “I brought lunch today! You don’t need to worry about getting food now!”

“That’s great, Elsie. Now leave me alone.” Keima mercilessly shot her down.

“Uuuuuu...okayyy.”

“Don’t listen that jerk, Elly.” Chihiro consoled her. “There’s nothing good about having to deal with that guy.”

Keima bit his tongue.

_ Yeah, maybe you’re right. _

_ Just leave me alone. _

Just in time for homeroom to start, the classroom door shot open and an older woman walked in. Everyone went quiet as she walked up to the front of the class, her violet eyes piercing through everyone. Her shoulder length black hair was neatly parted except for a single section that ran down the front of her face, and she wore a spiked choker around her neck. Wearing a buttoned blazer and miniskirt that were both black, she asserted dominance as the homeroom teacher for class 2-B, Yuri Nikaidou.

“Alright class, everybody in your seats.” She spoke aloud, signaling that homeroom was beginning. She scanned over the seats in the classroom to get a mental picture of the attendance when she spotted Keima who was deeply focused on playing games, which was the usual case. However, she knew that he hadn’t been here since the festival ended, and wasted no time walking over to his seat with her teacher’s planner and thwacking him on the head with it multiple times.

“Nice of you to join us today, Katsuragi.” Nikaidou sneered at him. “I’m sure you had plenty of fun on your mini vacation, but we’re back in class now, so I’d appreciate it if you had a change of heart and paid attention today.”

Keima groaned, rubbing his head after the assault. “Whatever you say, sensei.”

“Good answer.”

As homeroom began and the school day commenced, Keima was determined to get through it as he usually did: playing games. Despite the increased hounding from Nikaidou, he kept diligent and continued to play, rejecting the world around him. More than ever, Keima desired to escape the influence of reality. Classes passed and time went on, but he was hardly paying attention to the movement of his surroundings. Sooner than he expected, lunch period finally rolled around and peace came to the classroom. It was at this time that he finally returned his attention to the outside world, determined to take the next step.

Keima waited for some time before making a move, letting some of the class leave ahead of him to go grab food from the school cafeteria or from the stand out behind the building. In that time, Elsie pranced over to his desk in a good mood, holding the lunch she brought from home.

“Nii-sama! Let’s eat lunch together!” Elsie offered with a sparkling smile. Keima looked up at her and squinted his eyes like she was too bright for him to look at.

“Elsie, it’ll have to wait.” Keima replied, folding his arms. “I have limited time during this break and I need to use it to run over to Class 2-A to check on Yui. I’m pretty sure Tsukiyo is in that class too, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just have to bait Yui out of the classroom if she’s not out already...but I’ll get to that in a second. The point is, I’m gonna be gone until the end of the lunch break.”

“Awww!” Elsie whined. “Let me come with you, Nii-sama! I can help you with this!”

“Not a chance, you bug demon!” Keima harshly turned her down. “You should stay out of this. I have to operate with _ extreme _ precision if I want to reach the proper ending! There’s too many factors to consider and I’ve already had enough missteps today! I only have one shot to get this right before tonight!”

“B-But! That’s more reason for me to come along!” Elsie protested, trying to make a case for herself. “You need a buddy who can help you out when things go wrong! Come on Nii-samaaaa!”

Keima sighed, rubbing his temples vigorously. “Listen, Elsie. Here’s the deal. There is something you can help me with, but not now. Go to band practice after classes are done and handle everything normally. While clubs are going, I’ll be checking on Tsukiyo and Shiori respectively. When that’s done and clubs get out, I’m going to need a ride over to the Narusawa TV Station where Kanon is going to be. It will be convenient if I’m one step ahead of her at this point, and you should know Kanon’s schedule better than anyone since you were acting as her. That will be helpful to me. Can you handle that?”

“Yes, Nii-sama!” Elsie saluted. “Leave it to me!”

“Good. I’m going to get this event over with quickly.”

Keima got up from his desk and walked out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him. Class 2-A was just further down the hall and around the corner, so he started making his way in that direction. With his PFP in his hands again, he started playing his game in an effort to hone his focus while he came up with a good strategy to handle Yui.

_ Yui is a handful. She has a strong offense, but that might be better for me in the long run. She doesn’t seem like the jealous type. She’s more content with winning through sheer willpower, which I don’t have a good defense against, but fortunately the goal here is just to make sure I’m on her good side. I’ll just have to get one of her classmates to draw her out if she’s in there without alerting anyone else and then I can handle things from there. If she’s not in there, I’ll just have to improvise, but I think that my chances are pretty goo- _

While he was thinking, Keima rounded the corner and immediately bumped into someone. He bounced back and landed on his butt, his arms still extended in the air with his PFP avoiding any contact with the ground. He was dazed for a moment, but then he regained focus and checked to see who he had run into.

“Oh geez, sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going! Are you okay...Katsuragi?”

“Chihiro…”

Chihiro Kosaka in the flesh. She was standing above him, extending a helping hand, but her face was in shock. Despite the fact that they sat close to each other in class, neither of them had attempted any direct contact with each other. This was the silent agreement between them, but that was being challenged by this unlikely event. Keima’s mind was not prepared for this outcome. He knew that she had left the classroom already, but he didn’t conceive of the fact that she would be coming back in the same direction he was going in.

Chihiro’s hand shrunk back for a second, but she kept it extended. She had already identified him, but she wasn’t going to rescind her gesture. She committed to it, no matter the consequence.

Keima, on the other hand, was struggling for the proper response. He eyed her hand like he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing with it. His mental processes were going into overdrive to calculate the next move.

_ Do I take her hand? _

_ No. Don’t humor this gesture. She’s not involved. _

_ Getting involved with her will only mean trouble. _

_ You don’t need her to get to the ending. _

_ Don’t forsake your ideal world for this one. _

The internal battle was decided.

“I don’t need your help.” Keima rejected her gesture, getting himself back on his feet. “I’m fine.”

“I see...well that’s fine. I’ll just be going then.”

Chihiro retracted her arm and turned around, beginning to make her way out of this situation. There was a blank look on her face and it was almost impossible to tell how she was really feeling.

Time felt like it was slowing down to a crawl. It felt like it was all going to end then and there, but it didn’t.

Something inside Keima was dying to get out. It was like the first rumbles of an earthquake that was shaking his very core. Though he had convinced himself logically that this was the best course of action for reaching his goal, there was a part of him that was critically underutilized which was finally waking up and protesting against his decision. It was his lack of awareness of what was going on that ultimately caught him off guard.

“Chihiro.”

_ Huh? What am I saying? _

Chihiro turned around and looked at him, her brown eyes glistening. Her blank expression turned into a surprised one.

“What’s up, Katsuragi?” 

“Your performance...at the festival. I saw it.”

_ What the hell am I doing? _

“Oh...so you did.” Chihiro acknowledged, a weak smile on her face. Her eyes shifted away from him. “So? What did you think, then?”

_ Why am I talking about this? This has nothing to do with the ending I’m trying to achieve. What could I possibly accomplish with this conversation? _

“It was...good. I can tell you worked hard on it.”

_ I can’t stop myself. What am I trying to achieve? Why do I feel compelled to say this? _

“That’s...good to hear, Katsuragi. I’m glad to know that you’re a fan. It’s weird to hear a compliment come out of your mouth, though. That’s not really your style, is it?”

“Yeah…”

Keima thought back to what Ayumi said earlier.

_ You would never apologize to a real girl. That’s not your style, Katsuragi. _

He was starting to realize something about himself that he had never really stopped to think about.

_ How many people have I affected negatively with my choices? _

“Chihiro, I…”

“Yeah?”

_ Is this really how people think of me? _

“Never mind.”

“Alright, well...see you later.” 

With a somber look on her face, Chihiro exited the scene. She walked down the hallway and mentally ran away from the situation, knowing she almost flew too close to the sun.

Keima stood there, his eyes going dark. He was rebooting his own brain. There was too much going on with himself that he didn’t understand. His emotions had never been like this before. There was no way for him to reject reality like this.

Keima came to a sudden conclusion after coming back to life. He shook off the feelings of doubt. He stomped out the nagging in the back of his head. He didn’t have any time to waste. He started back down the hallway towards Class 2-A like he had originally planned. Everything was still on schedule. He could still do this.

Keima’s resolve grew firm. He knew there was only one course of action to take.

_ I’m going to maintain the affection levels with all the girls. I’m going to please the Goddesses. This is what I need to do to reach the ending. By the time I reach Tenri’s house tonight, the conditions will be met. With this, I can have them seal the runaway spirits and then I can end this contract with Hell. After that, I can return to my old life. I can take back my ideal world once and for all. _

He kept on moving towards the classroom, feeling like this was the first step towards the real end of this story.

_ After that, I can finally turn the page on this ridiculous story. No more conquests, no more devils and goddesses, and no more spirits. No more real girls. Just the game world and myself. Just how it’s always been. _

_ After this is over, I can finally end it all. _


End file.
